File photo.
The rate of housing starts continues to outpace 2017 in Metro Victoria, but numbers went down in July compared to the same month last year.
It was a different story in Courtenay according to Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) Starts data released Thursday, which saw a big jump in housing starts compared to July 2017 and Nanaimo’s slower trend continues.
CMHC says there were 417 total housing starts in Greater Victoria last month, compared to 695 over the same period last year, with a slowdown in multi-family units.
But there was an increase in single-detached homes and Victoria’s 2018 rate of starts continues to lead last year’s pace.
“The trend for housing starts moved higher in July 2018, continuing strong construction activity in the first half of the year for the Victoria CMA,” CMHC principal analyst Eric Bond said.
“While the number of multi-family projects getting underway declined relative to the same month last year, single-detached starts expanded, particularly in the West Shore municipalities of Langford and Colwood. With strong demand for all types of housing in the region, builders have responded by starting 14 per cent more units in 2018 compared with the same period last year.”
There were 54 housing starts in Courtenay last month which is a big increase from the 19 reported in July last year.
The city had 35 single-detached starts in July and is well ahead of overall year-to-date figures for 2018 compared to last year, with 260 housing starts to 177 in 2017.
Although Nanaimo saw an increase for construction getting underway for multi-family units last month compared to the same time period a year ago, overall starts were down over 17 per cent from last year.
Year-to-date starts are also lagging the pace of 2017 by 27 per cent.
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